title: Epigenetics in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
abstract: Saccharomyces cerevisiae provides a well-studied model system for heritable silent chromatin, in which a nonhistone protein complex--the SIR complex--represses genes by spreading in a sequence-independent manner, much like heterochromatin in higher eukaryotes. The ability to study mutations in histones and to screen genome-wide for mutations that impair silencing has yielded an unparalleled depth of detail about this system. Recent advances in the biochemistry and structural biology of the SIR-chromatin complex bring us much closer to a molecular understanding of how Sir3 selectively recognizes the deacetylated histone H4 tail and demethylated histone H3 core. The existence of appropriate mutants has also shown how components of the silencing machinery affect physiological processes beyond transcriptional repression.
authors.affiliation: University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grunstein
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Gasser
mesh_terms: D000107:Acetylation; D004261:DNA Replication / Q000502:physiology; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D020868:Gene Silencing; D006570:Heterochromatin / Q000502:physiology; D006657:Histones / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D008957:Models, Genetic; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D038281:Silent Information Regulator Proteins, Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D006570:Heterochromatin; D006657:Histones; C061573:SIR4 protein, S cerevisiae; D038281:Silent Information Regulator Proteins, Saccharomyces cerevisiae